Last Thursday (August 15) a strange story appeared in the Wall Street Journal that US President Donald Trump is either jokingly or seriously considering buying the Danish island of Greenland. In fact, such a move is not new. In 1946, US President Harry Truman offered the Danes $ 100 million to buy the island. The State Department opened an investigation into Greenland and Iceland in 1867, and closed it later. Whether it is Greenland or any other part of the world, the idea is quite clear and not new to the United States, or any major colonial power. Powers historically do. Danish Prime Minister Matte Frederiksen said on Sunday that Greenland was not for sale and the idea of ​​selling it to the United States was ridiculous.

sense of humor

Given that Trump is at the center of this absolutely unreasonable proposition, there must be a sense of humor in this whole story. It revolves around the idea that the government should not confiscate whatever it pleases, regardless of its value in the name of capitalism, that has existed since the founding of the state. It is true that the policy of expansion has won all the time, but there is still room for fighting.

Despite the ridiculous stupidity, Trump's glimpse of Greenland makes clear in less than 24 hours why America and the rest of the world are adamant that they are in the post-colonial era by name only. Where the primary issue should be the protection and support of indigenous peoples and the natural communities in which they work, they focus on earning money and power, as well as an appropriate military strategy.

Now, those who wait for President Trump to be interested in indigenous issues and their communities are in fact waiting for a miracle from heaven. He eventually chose an oil friend to hand him over to the interior minister, who insulted World War II warriors from the Navajo tribe, one of America's largest indigenous tribes. Use a Disney movie as a political insult to them, but it is important to explore how the rest of American society, especially the American media, is dealing with such cases. The way the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and other nearby newspapers discussed, was very similar to sports news, being updated to keep the public up to date. The Washington Post's presentation was similar to talking about a colorful game board on which we could deploy plastic soldiers, not a natural habitat for a population that lived there for nearly 700 years.

According to the CIA Fact Book, Greenland is an area of ​​2.2 million square kilometers, of which 1.7 million square kilometers are covered with ice. It has enormous natural resources such as coal and uranium, but 60 percent of the land is arable and has 58,000 inhabitants, making it one of the world's smallest countries.

Colony

The paradox here is, of course, that Greenland is actually a colony. In 2008, the islanders voted in favor of the autonomy law, which gave the Greenlanders wide autonomy away from the Danish government. Although the DN Still claim that the island king.

Worry

As always, there is a profound overlap between concern about abuses of indigenous peoples and concern about negative impacts on the environment, especially those that lead to climate change. Given that much of the autonomy is linked to the island's economic blessing, both from the exploitation of natural resources and the production of clean energy, US interest in Greenland has obviously poor intentions. With the Arctic's ice sheet retreating and disappearing, the major powers, backed by gas companies, will try to collect every piece of gas underground. Ultimately, these goods will be exploited and any artificially good intentions that indigenous companies and governments have shown will disappear immediately.

This issue was at the forefront of the UN Special Report on Climate Change and Land, which was issued 10 days ago. While the report focused on areas in Africa, it was coordinated with indigenous peoples (the people who will be the first to be affected by these on-the-ground attacks), so the report says that efforts to combat climate change must be led by major countries. Energy companies, and also highlighted the paramount importance of encouraging the management of the areas where indigenous peoples live by their own hands, understand this land where they have lived the most.

• Those who wait for Trump to be interested in the issues of indigenous peoples and their communities are in fact waiting for a miracle from heaven.

Nick Martin - writer for «New Republic»